Shyp launches in L.A. to solve 'painful' postal problem

Using Shyp, customers can book a courier who will arrive within 20 minutes to pick up, package and post their items. (Shyp)

The on-demand pickup, packaging and posting service Shyp launched in Los Angeles on Wednesday, bringing with it a 20,000-square-foot packing and shipping facility in Commerce, and plans to employ dozens of delivery contractors.

Founded in San Francisco a year ago, the start-up aims to solve what co-founder Kevin Gibbon described as the most "painful" part of shipping an item — packing something and taking it to the post office.

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FOR THE RECORD

11:28 a.m. An earlier version of this article gave the name of Shyp's co-founder as Kevin Gibbons. He is Kevin Gibbon.

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"It's not an easy thing to solve," he said. "Consumers currently doing it themselves have to find a box, get bubble wrap and packing tape, pack everything, then take it to the post office. What we wanted to do was make it as simple as possible."

Using Shyp, customers take a photo of the item they want to ship and input the destination via the company’s mobile app. Shyp offers users a tool to compare shipping costs of freight services such as FedEx, UPS and USPS so they can estimate the cost of shipping. A Shyp courier then comes to the customer’s home or workplace, picks up the item, takes it to Shyp’s packing facility for professional packaging and sends it via the chosen freight service.

Shyp charges users a $5 pickup fee and the cost of the lowest carrier rate.

Shyp will join other on-demand delivery services already available in Los Angeles, such as Postmates, another San Francisco start-up that delivers restaurant and store purchases, and Schlep & Fetch, a Los Angeles start-up where users can book a courier to send and pick up items from stores, restaurants, friends and family.

According to Gibbon, Los Angeles is a city ripe for on-demand courier services because while most people may have a car, few people like sitting in traffic, and even fewer enjoy going to the post office.

"With how spread out the city is, it also means a post office or FedEx is likely to be a lot further away than in San Francisco or New York," Gibbon said. "So this has the added convenience of someone coming to you."